Hannity

Well, I'm actually usually a little nervous about these returns because there's always some risk that something go wrong. But thanks to the excellent work of the SpaceX team working with NASA, the astronauts are now safely home. And so congratulations to the SpaceX NASA teams on excellent work and a huge note of appreciation to President Trump for prioritizing and expediting their return.

You have been the Chief Engineer of SpaceX and remain the Chief Engineer of SpaceX. It is the first private company to ever make it to orbit. Walk us through the beginnings of that. It is not, it's something that nobody else has been able to accomplish.

Well, it's quite a long story and there are some books that have been written about it. But in the beginning we didn't actually know anything about rockets. So our first three missions failed actually of our Falcon 1 rocket and we almost ran out of money and just barely made it with the fourth launch. If the fourth launch of Falcon 1 had not succeeded, we would have failed as a company.

So we just barely made it. So I have to say that I was not a very good chief engineer in the beginning, but did learn over time and I think we've gotten at this point to where the vehicle is very reliable and we are going to be able to take astronauts to Mars. In fact, we want to take anyone who goes to Mars and ultimately build a self sustaining civilization on Mars.

That is the long term goal of the company. Make life multi planetary.

I mean that is a very bold vision. How long do you think that might take Space X to, to be able to accomplish?

I think we could do it in 20 to 30 years.

So I should say if God blesses me with a longer life than I deserve. Right. I could always hope. I would love to be able to see that. That would be amazing. I happen to have a telescope and I love to look at the stars in the sky and the planets. And I am amazed at the majesty of all of creation and the idea that we even look at the moon and we can go there and come back or space station or you launching the hundreds of satellites you have.

I want to, I want to ask you this question if I may. And it's, you know, every aspect of this rescue had challenges and danger. The launch, we start there, then the rocket landing. I mean we showed. I couldn't believe you were able to land the rocket that fell off perfectly where, where you wanted it to land. The docking video when they actually connected and got onto the space station.

Then the, the taking off earlier Today was a 17 hour trip leading to the splashdown that all of America watched today. Every single aspect of that has danger and complications. Walk us through the dangers very much. Phase.

Well, on the ascent phase, there's always some chance that either the first or second stage will blow up. In fact, I find it's actually remarkable when you see a rocket. I mean, when I see the rocket, I see a list of all the things that are wrong, all of the ways that it could go wrong and potentially fail. So you could have a first stage failure, a second stage failure, stage separation failure.

The dragon could fail to separate from the rocket. The trunk could fail to separate from Dragon. There could be an engine failure on the spacecraft itself. When it's coming back, it's coming in so fast it's a blazing meteor. And if anything happens to the heat shield, the whole craft is going to disintegrate. So it's remarkable that humans can actually go all the way to orbit and come back from orbit, given the immense amounts of energy that is required to get to orbit and the amount of energy that must be dissipated upon returning.

And then the parachutes have to open. That all has to work. Now, long term, we are going to be doing not long term this year. In fact, we are launching the, the starship rocket, which I recommend maybe doing a piece on because that is truly a revolutionary rocket. It is. The Starship is the first rocket that has the potential to make life multi planetary, to make us a multi planet civilization for the first time in the history of Earth.

And that's truly profound.

What was amazing and I studied a lot of this because of my need to cover it at one point, going 17,000 miles per hour, going through 3,500 degrees Fahrenheit, you have this thermal protection system. Now we do know that the Boeing Starliner, you know, we know that it had problems. So these problems that you talk about, we can't take it for granted or get complacent.

Explain how you get up to 17,000 miles per hour. How do you withstand 3,500 degrees Fahrenheit and the thermal protection system that protects that capsule. And then the launch obviously of the parachutes which were critical to slow it down for it splashed out.

Yeah, that we should do a longer segment because I'd be happy to explain it in detail. I'll do the, I don't know, the two minute version here.

Yeah.

The Falcon 9 rocket takes off with 1.7 million pounds of thrust. So you can imagine something that, that has enough thrust to lift an office building off its foundations. And that, and it gets to orbit, it gets to roughly 17,000 miles an hour in nine minutes. So from 0 to 17,000 miles an hour in 9 minutes. And then it's just, when it comes back, you've got that heat shield that's got to dissipate that energy.

Like I said, you're coming in like a blazing meteor. And hardly anything can survive that heat. And if the heat shield fails, you just get vaporized immediately. So we're really testing the very edge of human ability here, the very edge of material science. And it's kind of amazing that humans can do this at all. But hopefully this gives, hopefully for people out there.

This is a moment of optimism about the future, a moment of excitement about the future, and it portends great things for America and humanity and space.

I'm only going to ask you one political question, just for clarification purposes only. I don't think this should really be a political night. I think this is, you know, a moment where the country should, should celebrate the fact that you were able to rescue them, that it happened successfully in spite of the difficulty, the challenges and the danger.

But I just want to clarify on the issue of whether or not you had offered to send this, this rocket to space to rescue these astronauts sooner, to Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. I heard somebody earlier today say, in fact, that didn't happen, when I believe it did.

No, we definitely offered to return the astronauts earlier. That's. There's no question about that. The astronauts were only supposed to be there for, for eight days, and they've been there for almost 10 months. So obviously that doesn't make any sense. SpaceX could have brought the astronauts back after a few months at most.

And we made that offer to the Biden administration. It was rejected for political reasons, and that's just a fact.

Yeah, you know, I followed this from the very beginning. Did America and the world make a mistake by slowing down, going to the moon and to other planets? Was that a mistake on our part? I mean, don't we have so many scientific and innovative breakthroughs every time we go?

Well, I think we'll have tremendous breakthroughs if we will, when we establish a city or base and then a city on Mars, because we'll have to overcome so many challenges that it'll drive, it'll serve as a forcing function for the development of new technologies that will have tremendous benefits to people on Earth.

Let's talk a little bit, if we can, about the health issues that the astronauts will face. They were only, they only trained for an eight day mission. But there are certainly things involved with returning to gravity, adjusting to gravity, nauseousness, but then it gets a little bit more serious. A variety of other health problems.

Bones become about 1% less dense for every month that they are in space. That could lead to issues like osteoporosis or bone fracture, et cetera. Astronauts grow in space because the spinal column expands. There was one astronaut, Scott Kelly, he became two inches taller. And others then when it contracts, when you come back, then they have some back issues, they have vision issues because fluids in the eye shift upward to the head.

You can explain baby feet if you want. They will, they will have some significant health issues that they're going to be facing, but they'll be okay.

Yeah. The normal amount of time that astronauts are supposed to be in zero g is about three months and then really at the most about six months. That's, that's sort of the normal rotation. And they were up there for almost 10 months. So that's really going beyond what is healthy or good. So it's, it's a good thing that thanks to the support of President Trump, we hope to bring them back because really things get just a lot worse if they stay in zero G for, you know, past a year or more.

You know, what you were able to accomplish today really is, is pretty, is just fascinates me. I'm interested in every aspect of it. I think, you know, it was pretty public that I bought a, one of your Teslas. I don't like the way that people. And by the way, it's like the greatest car ever invented. It really is. And I'm not just saying that it's self driving.

It's got a thousand horsepower. It, it goes from 0 to 60 in 0.2 seconds.

2 seconds.

2 seconds.

I'm sorry, not 0 point. It goes in 2, 0 to 60 in 2.0 seconds.

I think it would kill you basically if it went that fast.

It would kill. That's true.

But it's still, it's pretty fast. That's for sure. It's faster than any Ferrari, for example.

Yeah, no, I watched it beat my Z06. I'm like, I thought that was the greatest muscle car. No, it's not. I watched the S plaid Beat it. You're into robotics, AI. You are working with neuralink so the blind can see and people with spinal cord injuries may one day walk. You help people in North Carolina, you help people in California when they have no communications.

And I watch all of this and I have to ask why. Why do I see people like, I woke up this morning and saw that Teslas were put ablaze in one of your dealerships in Vegas. I've seen this happen all over the country. Bullets are being fired, charging stations are put ablaze. Teslas are being put ablaze. You have experienced assassination threats of assassination for you and your family.

What have you done that warrants this? Because I see nothing that you have done except help our country.

Yeah, I mean, it's really come as quite a shock to me that there is this level of really hatred and violence from the left.

I always thought the left, or Democrats were supposed to be the party of empathy, the party of caring, and yet they're burning down cars, they're firebombing dealerships, they're firing bullets into dealerships. They're just, you know, smashing up Tesla's. Tesla is a peaceful company. We've never done anything harmful.

I've never done anything awful. I've only done productive things. So I think we just have a deranged. There's some kind of mental illness thing going on here because this doesn't make any sense.

Yeah, I think there are larger forces at work as well. I mean, I don't know who's funding it and who's coordinating it, because this is. This is crazy. I've never seen anything like this.

You actually tweeted out, and I'll put it on the screen. The level of violence is insane. It is deeply wrong. Tesla just makes electric cars and has done nothing to deserve these evil attacks. You just rescued two astronauts that have been in space for 286 days. They were only supposed to be there. 8. You helped the people in North Carolina, Tennessee, California.

You have, I think, the most creative and innovative car on the market. You created Starlink for communications that's used by hundreds of countries. You're working on helping the blind see and all of these other things. Is it really. Is it really come down to the basic. You're aligned with President Donald Trump, who also is a friend of mine, and that you have identified well over $100 billion of waste, fraud, abuse that our federal government never should have been spending.

Is that what it comes down to?

Yeah. It turns out when you take away people's, you know, the money they're receiving fraudulently, they get very upset and they. They basically want to kill me because I'm stopping their fraud, and they want to hurt Tesla because we're stopping this terrible waste and corruption in the government. And, well, I guess they're bad people.

Bad people will do bad things.

Well, I know that overall, you know, financially, in the end, yes, they can hurt you, but the people that they'll end up hurting are the people that work in your dealerships that may risk losing their job. The people that they may end up hurting are the people that work on the line and build the Teslas. They're going to be the ones hurt.

And that, that, to me, is despicable on their part just because they might have a political difference or perceived political difference. Let me ask you this, because I think this is pretty important. You know, the average American makes $66,000 a year. We're close to $40,000 in debt. You said to me in our last interview, we won't have a country unless we fix it.

Now, can you explain why this is so important that we identify all this waste?

Yes, the government sort of. The government waste and fraud is so high that it's causing a $2 trillion annual deficit. So that's 2,000 billion dollars of waste, waste and fraud that's happening. And the cost of our debt has gotten so high that that just the interest payments on the debt exceed the entire military budget.

And it was just growing out of control. So the country was going bankrupt. It's just, you know, country is no different from a person. If a country overspends and doesn't spend wisely, just like a person, a country will go bankrupt. So the reason I'm here is because I'm very worried about America going bankrupt due to the corruption and waste.

And if we don't do something about it, the ship of America is going to sink, and we're all on that ship. You know, and this may be a message to, you know, people out there who have, you know, are wealthy, have a lot of means or control companies. It's like, just remember, we're all on ship, America here.

If your company's not going to exist, if, you know, if the ship of America sinks. And we should do everything we possibly can to ensure that America is strong for far into the future and for

all that, we're all sunk. And for doing that, you should not have your company be a victim of domestic terrorism. If I may, one last question. You know, when I interviewed you and President Trump together, one of the questions I asked both of you was, are you aware that there are groups that want to separate you, groups that would like to divide you, groups that would like to see you not work together?

I feel it's stronger than it's ever been. Do you get the same sense

I think they're getting desperate because, I mean, the reason we're seeing this extreme amount of hatred and violence is because we're actually succeeding in getting rid of corruption and waste. If we weren't succeeding in getting rid of corruption and waste, they wouldn't care.

But we are succeeding. Thanks. Without President Trump, this would be impossible. So I'd just like to say, you know, it's only possible with this president, and we've got this narrow window of opportunity with a House, Senate and a popular vote, and really, we're just implementing the will of the people, and we've got this window where we can finally take corrective action.

We can fix the government, fix the country, and create a great future.

And again, it's only possible because of President Trump. I can't say enough good things about him.

I'm kind of supportive, too. I'm pretty well known for my support, as you know, but. Well, for good reason. For all the things. All the reasons you're saying. I want to save our country. We can't rob from our kids and grandkids. We can't put all that down on them. And you're right, none of us will have any business opportunities because there won't be any money.

There won't be any freedom. There won't be an economy. Thank you for what you did today. I know I speak for a lot of people when I say that. And on the other side of it, you know, your company being a victim of domestic terrorism, you know, I can't say that I'm sorry enough. We need to get these people that are responsible for this, and you should not have to live through that.

Your workers should not have to live through that. Your company and this country should not have to live through that. And I hope we get to the bottom of it.

Thank you.

And by the way, I'm excited about my S Plaid. It's the best car I've ever driven by far.

It's what I drive, actually, every day. It's a great car. I mean, I kind of made the car that I wanted to drive, so that's why I like it. And, yeah, that's.

Well, I've got mine on hannity.com people can go take a look. We appreciate you being with us, Elon Musk. Thank you. And congratulations. And thank you.